I understood that I was coming to a country that takes its religion very seriously, but I didn't understand to what extent. I respect everyone's religious choices, and will respect the religious protocols for the country I am currently living in, but the calls to prayer are still taking some getting used to. When I arrived at midnight my first night, I was awoken by a loud noise in my neighborhood at about 4:30am. It wasn't until the next call that I realized that it was being broadcast from a loudspeaker in every mosque in Saudi. There is a call to prayers every day and it occurs 5 times per day. I loaded an app on my phone that tells me what time this will occur. It helps me to plan my shopping. This is what I hear in my bedroom in my apartment.
This is what I hear at school, during classes most times.
I am usually able to sleep through the 4:30am ish call, but it is hard to ignore the other ones. I am told by all the other non-Muslim teachers, it will eventually slip into the background noise that is part of my everyday life.
Ok, now to the abaya. It is a constant reminder that I am considered a second class citizen, and it makes you hard to find your friends when you get separated at the store or mall. I don't object to wearing it, I just need to get mine shortened!
When I was at the mall the other day, I noticed this sign in a space that there usually is no sign. There are mini mosques in every mall, but women are not allowed, so the store set up this area.
After prayer time was over, it was removed a short time later. That they feel like that have to set it up is just a gentle reminder.
Now to my "exercise program". I was given a Wii game set-up, but I still need to find a Wii board and Wiifit games for the board. The person who gave me the games set-up did not have the power cord, so in my first official solo outing, I hit a small area of video game stores. I was able to figure out the Uber thing for cabs, and managed to make it there JUST as they were closing for prayer time. They would not re-open for another hour. GREAT! I had thought about getting food, but guess what? EVERYTHING closes for prayer time. THIS is why I need to better schedule my outings, and this is why I have the prayer app in my phone. If you are already inside a store/restaurant, they may or may not kick you out until they reopen. Fortunately, Carrefour (the store that reminds me of super Walmart), lets you stay in, but will not check you out until the employees are told to return to work.
I took the time to wander the hood and finally spent enough time wandering that the restaurants started to re-open. My two choices were fried chicken or Chinese. I chose the Chinese place and found it was an upscale place. The family section was nice and pretty empty, and my fish in black bean sauce was very good, if grossly overpriced. They did not include rice with my main dish, which is good, but they poured me a glass of Perrier and charged me for the whole bottle. After dinner, I wandered some more and look what I found!
I now have some craft supplies and a hot-melt glue gun! I am loaded for bear and I DID decorate my door! I am going to update it seasonally, so pics of that will be posted as well.
My front door and looking in from my front door. My new "office" on the right. Notice the nice Ikea lamp!
Looking at the front door and then looking to the left. I got them to change the hideous red/gold couch and chair for a reasonable dark purple and black. I then purchased a queen sized fitted dark grey sheet to cover the couch. The thing on the right near the kitchen is my new butcher block work station/chopping block. I have ZERO counter space and it was not a want it was a NEED!
Shower curtain :-) Used cord from Ikea to create a clothes line in my bedroom for sheets and larger items. Cost nothing, works like a charm, is thin enough to ignore most days! My clothes dry in a matter of just a few hours hanging in my room. It is a HUGE change from China where it might have taken 3 days to have something dry!
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